Sheriff Urged to Add More Patrols

Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett on Tuesday again questioned law enforcement funding decisions, asking Sheriff Bob Brooks to consider putting more patrols back on the streets in unincorporated areas.

Bennett asked why the sheriff was using state funds targeted for unincorporated communities to offset salaries for two crime lab workers. The money, about $143,000, might be better spent putting at least one sheriff’s deputy on patrol, the board chairman said.

Bennett said Brooks had recently reassigned eight deputies patrolling the unincorporated Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte and Oak View communities to work in the main County Jail. He suggested there might be other ways to cover the salaries of crime lab workers while restoring some of the lost patrols.

Cities, which routinely use the lab to process evidence from crime scenes, might be asked to contribute toward the cost of maintaining the service, Bennett said. Brooks should also look at reducing his management staff, Bennett said, a suggestion the supervisor has made before.

“Are we disadvantaging the unincorporated areas to provide this countywide service?” he asked. “That is a more pressing question now that we are cutting deputies on the street.”

Brooks said the county’s 10 cities have been able to use the crime lab without cost for 40 years. It is up to the board, not him, to change that policy, Brooks said.

In the end, Bennett joined his board colleagues in approving use of the state funds for the crime lab salaries. But he and the other board members asked Brooks to report back on ways to free more money for patrols.

“I’m doing it reluctantly since we are in transition,” Bennett said.

Spending in Brooks’ department has outpaced revenue for two years, leading to reductions throughout the Sheriff’s Department. The reassigned Ojai Valley deputies are performing jobs that previously had been handled by civilian jail workers, Brooks said.

About 40 non-sworn jail employees were laid off last month to help close the department’s budget gap.

Bennett said despite lower funding, the sheriff should be able to manage his department more efficiently, starting with thinning out his management staff. But Brooks has indicated his management ranks would remain unchanged.